The field of the invention relates generally to methodologies used in aircraft design, and more specifically, to methods and systems for determining the durability of lightning protection components/systems incorporated within aircraft.
Aerospace vehicles depend heavily upon electronic systems and thus must be shielded against electromagnetic effects, such as electromagnetic interference (EMI), lightning, and high intensity radiated fields (HIRF). EMI interference may come in the form of lightning strikes, interference from radio emitters, nuclear electromagnetic pulses (EMP), and high power microwave (HPM) threats.
Aluminum hull aircraft are shielded from high-intensity radiated fields (HIRF) and/or lightning effects by virtue of their metallic construction. Manufacturing an aircraft from carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) provides benefits such as reduced weight and reduced manufacturing costs. However, CFRP does not provide the same shielding capabilities that are inherent in aluminum hull aircraft.
Typically, initial aircraft design practices do not account for long-term health of HIRF and lightning effects protection components. Such design practices may increase product support expenses, and potentially increase the risk that a rework and/or a redesign will be necessary. Furthermore, such design practices often lead to extensive scheduled maintenance in order to determine the continued effectiveness of the HIRF and lightning effects protection components.
Existing solutions rely on differing levels of design considerations for continued airworthiness across multiple design disciplines using individual intuition and interpretations of optimized design solutions. In cases where an inspection or a functional check is unavoidable, the existing solution does not consider a testing solution as part of an integrated continued airworthiness assessment within the detailed design phase of the aircraft development project.
It would be desirable to integrate continued airworthiness of lightning/HIRF protection components into the aircraft design process. Also, it would be desirable to facilitate a reduction in scheduled maintenance, product redesign, and product support, thus reducing the number of engineering labor hours necessary to monitor and maintain an aircraft. A design system that takes full advantage of engineering labor hours invested in the design of a product, as well as product development and certification testing, would be desired.